Mirror Mirror
by Aelyna326
Summary: A Dramione fic set during sixth year. Draco and Hermione meet after Slughorn's party; both drunk and alone sparks fly, secrets come out, and feelings are recognised. However, this is no ordinary boy-meets-girl. We all know the obstacles in their path, the question is; can they overcome them for love? Draco/Hermione
1. Chapter 1

Mirror Mirror

**Chapter 1**

"Mirror mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all?" Hermione looked at her ruined dress, her messed up hair, curls escaping at the sides. She took in her smudged makeup and her broken shoe. _Not you! _She thought, she was angry with McLaggen, but she was angrier with herself for letting it go so far. "You, my queen, are fairest of all." Hermione spun around, looking for the owner of that disembodied voice. "Isn't that how it goes Granger?" _Malfoy, _Hermione realised with a start of shock. Shock was replaced by fear, she was alone and wandless, the rush to escape McLaggen had made her very careless.

"Hermione, Mione come back! Come here or I'll tell everyone you're frigid, they already know you're an ice queen who think she's so much better than everyone..." He went off into mumbling, Hermione was about to run away, but she was stopped by Malfoy emerging suddenly from a hidden staircase. "Malfoy! Oh go away, I've got enough trouble!"  
"Mione, who are you talking to?" McLaggen stumbled around the corner.  
"Leave me alone Cormac, you've had too much Fire Whiskey and it's left you senseless!" He reached her and grabbed her arms in too tight an embrace. "Malfoy? You're with him, you filthy little slut?!" He started shaking her, Hermione tried to pull away, but his hands were too strong.  
"Get off me, you're hurting me!" She cried out in pain, but couldn't get away.

"Get lost McLaggen." He ignored Malfoy's low hiss, but then he shot off a silent stunning spell, and McLaggen promptly collapsed. "What a tosser!" Malfoy slipped his wand back into his pocket. Hermione stepped back, tripped on her one good heel and fell right on her behind. Malfoy snickered. Hermione pulled her heel off and looked up at him, "Shut up. And... thanks."  
"Like I did it for you. I just hate..." He cut himself off, then muttered, "McLaggen."  
"What were you going to say?" She could see that Malfoy was a little drunk as well, he swayed slightly on his feet, and his words were not a crisp as usual. "I was going to say," He sat down on the last step of the secret staircase, "That I hate men who're rough with women. Women are... delicate." Though all of Hermione's feminist sensibilities were offended, she didn't pull him up on it. She had only seen his parents once or twice, but she could imagine Mr Malfoy the violent type.

"Come on Granger, I'll take you back to your common room, we don't want McLaggen waking up and finding you, do we?"  
"I can get back on my own, thank you."  
"Don't be stubborn, come on." He held the portrait open for her. Hermione stepped through, feeling as though she was stepping over to the dark side. "So, what are you doing here?" She tried some small talk. Malfoy stopped a few steps behind her and laughed, "Why on Earth would you care?" Hermione sniffed and kept walking, but she tripped on the top step, and an arm on her waist caught her. As soon as she was righted, Malfoy pulled away, in case he caught something.

"Is this your floor?"  
"Yes."  
"I'll leave you here, don't want to go any further and run the risk of someone _seeing_ me with you."  
"Thanks!" Hermione snapped, and kept walking, but before Malfoy disappeared down the stairs, she muttered, "Actually, thank you, for getting rid of McLaggen." She waited for a snappy retort, but he just said, "It's fine, don't mention it." She didn't intend to, the night had been too weird.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Harry wondered where she'd gone off to, she told him that McLaggen had annoyed her, so she'd gone to bed early, he bought it, or at least, he did. Until McLaggen opened his fat mouth. Hermione was with Harry and Ron when they ran into McLaggen, "Granger, enjoy your night with Malfoy?" He was speaking so loudly everyone in the Great Hall heard, including the Slytherin table. Malfoy looked up. "Leave me alone Cormac."  
"_Leave me alone Cormac..._" Hermione ignored his cruel impression and turned away, dragging Harry with her, but McLaggen wouldn't leave it. "Didn't seem so keen to keep Malfoy's hands off you, did you, slut?" Malfoy stood up, "Come to defend your girlfriend?" Hermione spoke before Draco could reply. "Shut up, look, me and Draco just happened to be in the same place, at the same time, does **not** mean that we're..." She tried to find a word,  
"Fucking." Draco supplied after a moment, Hermione sent him an angry look, flushing red as she did, and Harry growled his displeasure.

"Oh yeah, then where did you run off to?"  
"To bed! Alone, in our separate dormitories!" Hermione was getting redder.  
"Oh yeah, well I reckon you would say that, wouldn't you Granger? Don't wanna admit you're a Slytherin's slut!" Jeers and Harry's shouts drowned out Hermione's stutters, she just wasn't used to this, she didn't know how to act. Draco did. He stepped forward, putting himself into the little ring that had formed, "I'm beginning to take offence McLaggen," He looked over at Hermione, but couldn't hold her gaze as he said, "You don't really think I would sink that low, do you?" Harry started shouting at him too, but Hermione silenced him with a look. "It's alright, he's telling the truth, he would never risk _fucking _a mudblood, it would ruin his reputation. And I have far too much self-respect to even consider it, I couldn't be associated with someone who's father's a convicted death-eater. Is that enough for you Cormac?" It was a low blow, it really was, but she was angry and embarrassed.

"Come on Harry." She marched away before either McLaggen or Draco could rejoin.

Harry asked her if she was okay a few times, and she kept lying until he left her alone. Then she made her way up to the Owlery, she needed to send a letter, but she didn't want to write in sight of everyone in the common room. The Owlery was quiet, apart from the rustle and occasional squawk. _Mum, I know I'm writing a lot, but I just like knowing you and dad are safe. There's a lot going on in 'our' world, I'm worried some of it might start to affect you.  
_"Who're you writing to Granger?" She dropped her quill, Draco picked it up and handed it back to her, "My mother, leave me alone Malfoy."  
"Still angry about today?"  
"Yes."  
"Oh get over it."  
"Get over it, and all the other crap you've said over the years... just go away Malfoy." She rubbed her suddenly stinging eyes. "Oh, you're not crying are you?"  
"No." She rubbed her face harder, trying with everything she had not to let the tears out. In the end she had to make a retreat, or attempt one. "Get out of the way, please Malfoy!" She was sobbing now, "Why are you crying Granger?"  
"Just don't! I swear I'll curse you!" She drew her wand (which she had found that morning), Draco stepped forward and grabbed it, pulling it from her grasp. "Damn it! Malfoy, give it back!"  
"Tell me why you're crying, and I will."

She went to sit in the window of the Owlery, sobbing onto her knees. "It's nothing, I'm just so tired of all this, I'm writing to mum and dad every other day, just to make sure they're okay. After the ministry last year, I've been so worried, all the time... I'm just so tired." She wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "I can't tell Harry, I mean he's got it so much worse you know? It's all riding on **him **I can't give him more to think about. And Ron, well Ron's worrying about his own family, his Dad's in the middle of it, in the Ministry. My parents are Dentists..." She choked out a laugh, "But I still worry. Do remember the Quiddich world cup?" She looked over her shoulder, and he nodded, silently. "They did horrible things to those people, and that was just playing." Her voice was barely a whisper now, and Malfoy strained to hear her, "What will they do when they're not playing anymore?" She wiped her eyes again, getting up.

"Why would you care? You were probably under one of the masks." She turned to face him, and then saw her wand still held in his grasp. She had forgotten about that. It struck her in an instant that he had grown up, somewhere amongst all the horrible comments and cruel jokes, the years had raced past them, and she was facing a boy almost grown, tall and broad and stony faced. "I told you, give it back." He seemed to mentally shake himself, then handed her wand back. She audibly released a breath. "Were you... scared?"  
"I... no... just, wary. You're not just a bully now, you know? You're the enemy. Or so Harry would have us believe, he thinks..."  
"What does Potter think?"  
"Never mind, I'm going to the Library."  
"Tell me." She gripped her wand, feeling stronger with it, she was a good witch, no matter the circumstances of her birth, she knew she was a good witch. "I said never mind, move." He did, and she left, brushing perilously close to him.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

They had an awful potions assignment due, and Hermione had been working on it for the last few hours. The Common Room was full of chatter, it had been distracting, so she left to go to the Library. She had permission from Madam Pince to be in Library late, and she'd assumed she'd have it to herself, but the sound of someone chucking a book and yelling proved her wrong. "H... hello? Are you quite alright?" She stood up, quill and parchment forgotten, wand held aloft. "Hello?" A step around the corner and she saw Draco Malfoy standing rigid, holding his own lit wand aloft. "Are you following me Granger?"  
"No. Potions essay, is that what you're...?"  
"No, something else. Get lost." He was white, whiter than usual, and shaking.  
"Are you alright? You look ill."  
"I'm fine. Get lost Granger, or I'll make you." She tightened the grip on her wand,  
"I'd like to see you try." He flicked it, almost casually, and a silent _Flagrate Expulsum _curse hit her wand hand, leaving a fiery burn around her wrist. She dropped the wand with a cry. He kicked it under a bookshelf, and pinned her against the same shelf. It had been so quick and unexpected, her thoughts took a few moments to order themselves; firstly she was disbelieving, losing a duel (if you could call it that) to Malfoy was embarrassing; secondly she was in pain, her wrist felt like it was still burning; but thirdly and most importantly, she was terrified.

"What the hell are you doing? Malfoy stop it!" He moved his arm so it cut across her windpipe. She stopped talking quickly. "I told you to get lost, next time do it!" He released the pressure enough for her to speak, "You cursed me!" Disbelief was still there.  
"We're at war, remember. And you're the enemy."  
"I'm sorry I said that, I was angry, please... you're hurting me." The memory of that night came back to her, and she decided to press that point. "You said you hated men who hurt women, please, don't become one of them, don't be like your father, you don't have..."  
"Don't you _ever _talk about my father!" That hadn't worked, his wand was digging into her side, a tear slipped from her eye, "I'm sorry, please..." He let her go, stepping back suddenly. She bent over her wrist, sobbing now she had the air to. "Accio wand." He caught it, shoving it into her belt when she made no move to take it. "Stop crying, you're alright."

She pulled her wand out and pointed it straight at him, tears still falling, but face set. "How dare you? I was just being... kind!"  
"Kind! Bull crap, it's pity Granger, it always is! And I don't need it, not from you. You're the one to pity, you're the filthy little Mudblood, you're the one who'll suffer in the months to come! You're afraid for your parents are you? Well don't be, it's you I'd fear for. When they catch you, and they will, just try and imagine the things they'll do, _and that's just when they're playing..._"  
"Stop it!" She screamed, cutting through the Library's quiet, and his snake-like whisper. "_Silencio!" _The charm made him blessedly quiet, but he didn't even react to it. In fact he lowered his wand, in a _do it! _gesture, she was tempted, but he wasn't worth it. She lowered her wand and turned away. Collecting her things and shoving them haphazardly into her satchel, she ran from the Library, arriving back in her dormitory shaken and out of breath.

Dark dreams haunted her; screams, some hers, some from those she loved. Flashes of red and green, a great snake... and sometimes cold grey eyes. She woke up sweating, gasping for breath. "Hermione, are you okay?" The mumble came from the bed next to her,  
"Fine Parvati, go back to sleep. It was just a nightmare." She didn't sleep that night, and by the look of Malfoy in potions, neither had he. They caught each other's gaze once, and she held it until he blinked and looked away, it felt like a small victory.

"You alright 'Mione?" Harry rarely called her that, they were affection, but in a different way. And in Potions they were practically rivals. "Fine."  
"You don't look fine. You look like you haven't slept."  
"I didn't really, I just had this awful dream, well nightmare really." Tears almost formed, but she forced them, down, concentrating on her potion's book. "What was it about?" He was keeping his voice low, under Slughorn's radar. "Just... everything. You-know-who, and... I'm just scared. I know it's stupid..."  
"Hardly, you're talking to a fellow dreamer. Look, my dreams are real, yours are just your own; and they're perfectly rational. Hermione, if we weren't scared we'd be idiots, but we can't let that control us, so no _you-know-who, _he's Tom Riddle, and he's just a man."  
"You don't sound scared Harry."  
"Neither do you most of the time, when we were trapped by the plant under the trap door, you weren't scared, you were smart. The same with the mirror in second year, you used your head and saved your life, along with that Ravenclaw girl. You worked Lupin's secret out, and you were brave enough to tell him so, even though it could have endangered you. I know _I_ was scared last year, in the Department of Mysteries, but I watch you fight like _you_ weren't." She bit her lip, holding back tears of a different kind. "Thanks Harry. And you'r right, Tom Riddle is just a man. The nightmares are more dangerous right now. I might fail this class." He grinned, putting an arm around her briefly, before anyone would notice. Someone did though, when she looked up from her potion, she saw Malfoy, eyes narrowed, staring at them.

She still had nightmares, but they weren't quite so terrifying with Harry's words ringing through her mind. Their conversation, and that awful encounter with Malfoy had done something else though, it made her far more aware of the dangers they might face. In her free time she didn't just do homework and extra studying, she read through books about duelling, about curses and counter-curses, about healing charms and even some battle strategists. She asked Harry, Ginny and even Luna to duel with her, and though she beat the younger two, Harry always won. It made her feel more confident, and now when she dreamt, she was firing spells back at the grey-eyed death-eater.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

It was weeks after the incident that she ran into Malfoy in a dark corridor again. Where he had come from she had no idea, the only room around was the Room of Requirement, and she was sure he couldn't know about that. "Hello Granger." He grinned, a completely different person to the one who had had her pinned in the Library, he still looked tired though. "What are you doing wandering about at this time Malfoy?" She spoke severely.  
"Drinking, want to join?" He held out a bottle of Fire Whiskey.  
"No! For God's sake, give me that." She went to grab it, her Prefect duties coming to mind, but he danced it out of her way. "Come on, you know you want to. Have you ever even tried Fire Whiskey?"  
"Of course I have, I'm not completely naïve you know!" He laughed, then turned and started walking back down the corridor. "Where are you going?"  
"Follow me, find out."  
"So you can curse me again, no thank you." She was about to turn heel, when she heard him stop. "I'm sorry Granger, for that, I was in a terrible mood, I shouldn't have..."An apology, from Draco Malfoy, that was... what?

"What?"  
"I said it once, that's it. Come and drink with me, we could kiss and makeup?"  
"Oh shut up. And give that bottle here." She followed him a few steps further down the corridor, and he grinned. For a moment she thought he was coming closer to give her the bottle, but then she realised he was pacing. He did know. "Look, magic door, come on in."  
"You're drunk, honestly Malfoy, give me the bottle." He stepped through the door, and Hermione, for reasons unknown, even to her, followed him. She regretted it as soon as she had, the room was lit only by a couple of candles, and Malfoy was nowhere to be seen. She gripped her wand tighter, planning on finding the door again when she saw him. "Come and join me." He was sitting in a large sofa chair, there were two of them. The bottle rested on a table, she made to grab for it, but he snatched it back before she could.

"Sit down, chill out. You're so bloody high strung all the time."  
"Shut up."  
"It's true though, isn't it?"  
"Give me the bottle, and I'll show you it's not." He eyed her, weighing her words.  
"If you try and nick it, I'll curse you again." She huffed, but he passed it to her. She really had been planning on stealing it, but as she looked at him, she knew that was exactly what he expected. She wanted to wipe that knowing look off his face, so she took a swig, handing it back to him, and making a face. He laughed, "That, I wasn't expecting. What happened to the stick Granger?"  
"What stick?"  
"The one usually lodged firmly in that gorgeous behind of yours."  
"Shut up!" He offered her the bottle again, and she took another swig. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, homework and a duelling session with Harry hadn't left time, so the liquid swilled against nothing in her stomach, making her lightheaded already.

"Why are you drinking on a Tuesday night?"  
"Nightmares." His answer was quiet, almost a whisper. She lowered her voice to match his,  
"What are yours about?"  
"Just, darkness. You can't even imagine Granger..."  
"I can."  
"You have them too?"  
"Of course."  
"Are they about failing Potions?" She took another swig,  
"No, nowadays they're about the death-eaters you spoke of, among other things. Thanks for that." He took the bottle back, but kept hold of the hand she had offered it to him in. "I already said I was sorry." His thumb skimmed over her knuckles. She suddenly felt nervous, not scared, just nervous, this was new territory, and this was Malfoy.

"I should go," She reached over and pulled the bottle from his grasp, making to stand on unsteady legs. He stood with her, re-taking the bottle and placing it on the table. It was immediately forgotten. "What are you doing?"  
"I was going to kiss you, but I thought I should make sure you can't curse me." He pulled her wand from her belt and dropped it onto the table with the bottle. "Don't you dare."  
"Why, never been kissed before Granger?"  
"Of course I have." She was blushing,  
"Really?"  
"Yes!"  
"Then it's no big deal." He bent down, and kissed her. She should have pulled away, she almost did, really, but the Fire Whiskey, and the candles, and... well...

The kiss turned into something else, his hands were skimming over every inch of her, and her own were pulling at his hair, she heard herself moan, and blushed. Finally they pulled themselves apart. "Ever been kissed like that?" Cocky son of a bitch. But she couldn't answer honestly, so she stayed silent. That seemed enough for him. He kissed her again, moving them so she was pressed against the cool stone wall. Without thinking, she let him pull her top over her head, and undid the buttons on his shirt.

The feeling of flesh on flesh was good, so she didn't object to his undoing her belt, or helping her step out of her jeans. Soon they were both only in their underwear, gasping for breath and; on her part at least, quite shocked. He looked behind him, and over his shoulder Hermione could see a bed, where she was sure one hadn't been before. Without speaking, he lifted her up, far too easily, and carried her to it. He was kneeling on the floor next to her, and she looked up him, still breathing heavily, heart racing. "Now I bet this is something you haven't done before."  
"In this one instance, you might be right." She noticed the faint smile, and blushed.  
"Do you want to?" She should have thought it through, but if she had, she might have decided that Malfoy might not be the best person to lose her virginity to, and that wasn't a good outcome at all.

"Yes." He grinned a slightly predatory grin, and started kissing her again.

Soon enough she was lying underneath him, her bra discarded, and her heart beating out of her chest, as his hand travelled between them, pulling her panties down her legs. She helped him kick off his boxers, and there was a moment of charged silence, neither moved. Then he ran his hand down again, over her flat stomach, until he reached her sex, already soaking, and pushed a finger inside her. She gasped, arching against him, he bent down to kiss her neck, carefully thrusting the finger into her, then adding another. His lips found her breasts, and he nipped at the already erect nipples, thrusting faster with his fingers.

She was too close to the edge, he pulled out, leaving a trail of kisses over her chest and neck. "Ready?" His voice was a hoarse whisper, and she nodded, though not without a hint of anxiety.  
"Will it hurt?"  
"Only for a moment, I promise." His hand ran over her thigh, and he brought it up to rest on his hip, the angle was perfect. Hermione felt him enter her in one movement, and though it hurt for a second, she adjusted quickly. Pain was replaced by pleasure, she was soon biting back cries of a very positive kind every time he thrust deeper into her, her hips matching his as best they could.

She was close to the edge again, he could feel it, and her tightening around him brought him there to, he thrust harder and faster into her, until she cried his name out. "Draco!"  
"Hermione..." He hissed against her throat, as he came deep inside her.

She woke up with a slight ache, well, everywhere. But underneath that she felt amazing, completely content. No nightmares had encroached on sleep that night, not while she was wrapped in Draco's arms. She opened her eyes, feeling his breathing steady against her back. Blinking in the daylight from the little window, she wondered what time it was. They were probably going to be late for breakfast, but then, she didn't really care.

She moved a little, and his arm tightened around her, she looked down, her fingers tracing the muscle corded along it, the slightly raised skin where the black ink of the Dark Mark was burned into his flesh. Horror broke through her postcoital haze, then anger, then fear. She needed to get out of the bed, without him waking up. She needed to get to her wand.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

She unhooked his arm, slipping from the bed as quietly as she could, padding towards her wand; she almost at the coffee table when he spoke from behind her, "Hermione?" The frank use of her first name, the sleepy, honest, quality to his voice almost brought tears to her eyes, and she didn't know why. She swallowed the unwarranted emotion, and turned to smile at him. "Morning. I was just getting dressed." He nodded, climbing out of bed after her, and bending to pick up her T-shirt. "Here."  
"Thanks." She had her underwear on already, and shrugged the T-shirt on quickly, desperate to find her jeans and wand, but unable to act on her haste. "Hermione," He was behind her suddenly, running his fingers through her hair – a wild mess from the night's activities. "Are you alright? You sound strange." He sounded genuinely concerned, and she had to fight not to just turn and throw her arms around him, admit she had seen the mark, and ask him to explain it away. "I'm fine. It's just... I guess it was unexpected."  
"Yeah, I guess it was." He paused, an almost awkward look in a face usually so sure of itself; "So... I didn't hurt you?" She forced herself to turn and smile at him, without revealing anything else in her expression, "No, you didn't. Don't worry." He nodded, relieved.  
"Okay, good. And you know I'm not going to... tell anyone, right? I know I'm a dick, to you especially, but I'm not _that _kind of dick." The thought hadn't occurred, because she had begun to trust him. Oh the irony. "I know you won't, and neither will I, I don't want to ruin your rep." He frowned,"It's not like that Hermione, not now. If it wasn't for what people would say about _you_, what Potter and the Weas... and Weasley would say, I'd yell it from the rooftops." Hermione couldn't answer him without bursting into tears, so she just lent up and kissed him, very gently, lovingly almost.

When they pulled apart, she managed an honest smile. "We're going to be late for breakfast, come on." She pulled her jeans on quickly, then looked back at the coffee table, where her wand **had **been. It was no longer there, something like panic shot through her, but she calmed herself with deep a breath, glancing over at Draco. "Have you seen my wand?"  
"I've got it. Is that my shirt under the bed?"  
"I think so." He dug around until he found it, looking back up with a grin that might have made her heart flutter, had she not been so scared. The situation was completely fucked up. "Wand?"  
"Um? Oh, here." He pulled it out of his belt, and as he handed it to her, she couldn't help the glance down at his bare forearm. He had already let go by the time he realised exactly what she was looking at.

Hermione pulled the wand from his fingertips, turning it on him in, a heartbeat faster than he could reach his own. "Don't." He looked from the ugly scar to her face, set in a mask of fear, anger, and a grief that was creeping its way up to freeze her heart. "I can't believe I forgot." His voice was a whisper, "In fact, this is the first time I haven't been _so acutely_ aware of it since they gave it to me. Thank you for that Hermione." She shook her head,  
"Shut up."  
"I mean it..."  
"I said shut up!" The scream made him flinch. "I can't believe Harry was right, I never thought you would actually have one, not in a thousand years. God, I'm so stupid!"  
"No, you're not. Hermione I didn't want it, I never wanted it, it's just..."  
"Just what? Tell me, please!" He was trying to find the words, but Hermione wasn't willing to wait. "Yeah, I thought that might be it." She shook her head, though whether at him or herself, it was hard to know.

"He'd have killed my mother. And my father, if I didn't take my place within the Death Eaters." It came out in a painful rush, as close to the truth as he dared go. "I had to Hermione, you don't know what he's like... you _can't _say no."  
"Yes. You. Can. Harry did, so did his parents, Sirius, Lupin, Dumbledore-" She was crying and talking so quickly her words were blurring together, Draco moved as though to comfort her, but Hermione flicked a silent stinging jinx at him, red welts blossomed across his shoulder, and he stepped back. She sniffed, wiping her eyes with her spare sleeve, but the wand was steady. "Where do we go from here then?" His voice was as level as her hand, but they both hid a volcano of emotion. "I don't know. I suppose... I have to tell Dumbledore, the Order..."  
"Hermione, please... you don't understand... that will be a death sentence, for me and my family." She almost said _so what? _but she knew she would regret it as soon as it was out, and besides, it wasn't true. "The Order will protect you."  
"They can't." His voice was flat, and whether he was right or not, he believed it.  
"Dumbledore..."  
"Even if he can protect me, my mother maybe, he can't help my father, not while he's serving in Azkaban." Hermione bit her lip, knowing he was right, and hating it. Lucius was an evil man, but Draco's father nonetheless, the only one he had. "Don't lie to yourself, if you turn me over, you'll be responsible for everything that happens to us."  
"Don't you _dare _make **me **into the bad guy! You're the Death Eater here! Tell me something, if he wins, in the end, and he starts to exterminate all the Muggle-borns, what would do? Would you spare me, put yourself and your family in peril to save me? Because what's your asking. I have more than a responsibility to my friends and the Order to turn you over, I have a vested interest. If you and _Voldemort_ win," Draco flinched at the name, and Hermione hated that he looked more afraid of it than she was, "Then I and my family will be some of the first he'll come after. A Mudblood friend of the boy-who-lived!"

Draco wasn't looking her in the eye, he couldn't hold her tear-filled gaze any longer, so he spoke he was speaking to the floor. "I can't help him win Hermione, I'm just a 16 year old; the only reason he pulled me in was to punish my father. He's just waiting for me to get myself killed, or screw up badly enough that he can kill me himself." Hermione was about to speak, but he looked up, silencing her objections with the truth in his eyes, "If I die then my father's had his punishment, he and my mother will be safe. If you take us over to the Order, he'll think I've made a deal with them, then none of my family will be safe; maybe not even my friends. Crabb, Goyle, Zabini, Pansy... you."  
"You might be." Her voice was so quiet, so very quite he thought he might not have heard it,  
"What?"  
"If you're telling the truth then **you **would probably be safer with the Order than with the Death Eaters."  
"I don't want to live at that cost, would you?" Hermione closed her eyes for a second, shaking her head. "Then don't ask me to."  
"But you're asking me to betray my friends so you can put yourself in mortal danger! I don't want to do either of those things. I don't want that on _my _conscience!"  
"I know it's a lot to ask, and I know I have no right to ask of _anything_ of you, after the way I've treated you for the last six years; but I _have to _ask, because I finally have something to care about, something more than blood, money and position. I know my family are flawed, but they are all I have, please don't make the reason for their destruction."

Hermione's fight with herself was vicious, and neither side came out unscathed, but finally her compassion knocked her rationale down, and it didn't get up. "If I get even the slightest inkling you're planning something Malfoy, I'll turn you over without a second thought." He nodded,  
"Thank you Hermione."  
"Don't call me that." A tear slipped down her cheek, and Draco turned his face to the side a little, trying to hide his own. Before either of them could say anything else, Hermione lowered her wand and turned towards the door, shoving it open with the strength lent to her by her grief. "I would never hurt you, even if it did mean my life." She turned at the door, he was looking her full in the face, a tear mirroring the path of her's, "I actually believe you." He nodded. "Goodbye Draco." She took the step out and closed the door.

She walked slowly and deliberately back to the dormitory, her mind blank and her body numb. Everyone was at breakfast, so she wasn't bothered on her journey. When she got in, she pulled the curtains shut around the bed, and curled up on top of the sheets, finally allowing herself to cry. Though she didn't get out of bed for lessons that day, she was up bright and early the next. When Harry and Ron enquired after her whereabouts, she told them she had a headache, and changed the subject. She somehow managed to avoid Malfoy until dinner. When they caught each other's eyes, she turned away instantly, looking towards Harry, indulgent smile back in place as he gave Ron flying tips. He could never know. He wouldn't understand the betrayal, neither of them would. But that was okay, because they would never find out.

**A/N I would like to thank my fantastic reviewers; TITI, Jeremia and Jillian (extra big thanks to you for the constructive criticism, it's the only way I improve!), and of course to all followers and readers, I'm glad you've enjoyed it! **

**Aelyna. **


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